ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that his administration was not responsible for the delay in government forming following the general elections held on Oct 10.

“I am not interfering with the political process,” he told journalists in Islamabad before leaving on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia.

“The political process is on in the country and the government has no role in it,” Musharraf said.

He brushed aside the speculations over his encounter with PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim in a hilly restaurant at Pir Sohawa, describing them as “totally wrong and baseless”.

“It was not planned as being speculated,” he said while referring to some news reports which termed it a meeting “by design”.

He said: “We did not even sit and just exchanged pleasantries that hardly took three to four minutes.”

“Some people are saying that it (meeting) was by design or that I talked to Benazir Bhutto on telephone,” he said, adding, “these are totally wrong and baseless assertions”.

The president said he went for a “brunch” with his family at the restaurant where Minister for Science Dr Atta was also present and Makhdoom Amin Fahim came later at the place.

“He (Fahim) just came over to me and some local people who were there took photographs which triggered these baseless speculations,” the president said.

He said the reason for the delay in calling the parliament was due to challenges of some election results. “The parliament will be convened as soon as the matter is settled,” he said.—Agencies

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